


floats away from the atmospheres

by cascrane (thunder_and_stars)



Series: a dream deferred [4]
Category: no sleep in the city of dreams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:47:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28720749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thunder_and_stars/pseuds/cascrane
Summary: they’re sitting around a table. el is rattling two dice in his hand.“just roll, man,” raven grumbles from across the table. she is leaning back, pencil jammed in her teeth, looking rather bored. nya’s eyes flick over to jackal.“it’s still dc 20, el,” jackal says. “just roll.”
Series: a dream deferred [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2105190





	floats away from the atmospheres

they’re sitting around a table. el is rattling two dice in his hand.

“just roll, man,” raven grumbles from across the table. she is leaning back, pencil jammed in her teeth, looking rather bored. nya’s eyes flick over to jackal.

“it’s still dc 20, el,” jackal says. “just  _ roll _ .”

el mumbles something, then tosses the dice into the small wooden tray placed in front of him. the icosagons roll for a moment, then settle. “fuck yeah!” el yells, and maze laughs as he almost knocks his book off the table.

“are you kidding me?” jackal asks.

el leans forward on the table, fingers laced together, eyes narrowed, and smiles slyly at jackal. “nat fucking twenty,” he declares.

jackal sighs. 

“fine,” jackal says. “you pull him up.”

“thanks,” maze says.

“you should know better than to try to kill my boyfriend,” el teases, and jackal sighs and rubs his temple. 

“great. now that you’re not dead, can we please move on?” jackal asks. e shrugs.

everyone has a miniature placed in front of them at the table. key and raven have stacks of spell cards next to them. the two of them hoard spells like nobody’s business.

hollis sits next to jackal. their little miniature is a druid, though they’ve multiclassed into wizard as well. hollis kaley at fifteen is the youngest of their group, and they’re way too big of a group to run a coherent game, but nobody minds. jackal (jack l., as a kid, who decided jackal was a much cooler name), hollis’s adopted brother, is at the head of the table, dm’s screen splayed out before him.

next to hollis is raven, who is jackal’s childhood friend. she plays as a wizard, specializing in evocation. her sibling, nicky, next to her, plays as a fire genasi sorcerer. they’re one of the only people who doesn’t play as a human.

alex asperne, raven’s uncle, isn’t with them for this session. andy is similarly busy at work.

malachi plays as an elf barbarian, and his younger brother cyr (short for cyrus, though nobody knows  _ why _ ) plays as an elf sorcerer. malachi is also one of jackal’s friends, and their group has the habit of expanding constantly. 

nya and aydan are the newest additions, having met hollis and key over the summer. (more accurately, aydan met them, and she got dragged along.) aydan is playing a wizard, and nya is a paladin.

key (keith) asperne, raven’s adopted brother and one of hollis’s nerd friends, plays as an abjuration wizard with a few levels of fighter added in. maze (marcos) and el (ellis), key’s friends from school and everyone’s favorite chaotic boyfriends, play as a monk (key’s idea) and a transmutation wizard, though el has multiclassed into rogue as well. 

addy and jb and liza, who are malachi and cyr’s friends, play as a paladin, an asthmatic ranger, and a very confused bard. jackal plays a general npc who is always there, a fighter and wizard. 

currently, their party is divided into three groups (nya thinks jackal regrets it), and nya, aydan, raven, hollis, and andy (who thought it was a great time to leave early) are trying to fight a horde of skeletons.

raven does something like sixty points of damage in one round, nearly kills their entire party, and falls off a bridge.

nya wakes up. she’s in her bed, and aydan is in the chair next to her. his notebook, still open and discarded on the floor, has messy runes and spell instructions written on the page. it’s still dark outside.

her phone buzzes. the illuminated numbers on the screen tell her is is 3:11 in the morning. she has three messages from maze. 

kicking her brother’s shin to wake him up, she taps open the messages. 

_ meet at 3:30 in union square. get ready for your first dawn patrol _ .

how is this her life? (she thinks it would be easier if it was just a game.)


End file.
